SOILSCAPES — VOLUME I

Listening for Signal & Pattern in Winter Soil“What becomes audible when we learn to listen to soil?”

Winter dreamcatcher at dusk over a frozen lake

Winter view from SoilScapes environment, facing Bass Lake, December 30, 2025, by J. Claveau

A graduate research-creation project exploring soil through sound, observation and artistic listening. A sound archive. A practice of attunement to the ground beneath us. This project was developed within the Master of Environmental Studies program at York University, Toronto, Canada.

PREMISE

The practice of attunement.

SoilScapes emerged from a simple interruption. When winter froze the experimental soil beds, the data stopped. In that silence, measuring stopped and listening began.

What followed was a methodological turn: from extraction to attention, from sampling to collaboration. Eight recording stations now operate as an ensemble — instruments tuned to the slow grammar of the ground.

SoilScapes is an ongoing experiment in listening. Rather than seeking definitive answers, the project documents a process of observation, adaptation and discovery as relationships between soil, sound, technology and environment emerge over time.

Read the project history

PORTFOLIO CONTENTS

09 entries
  1. I

    About SoilScapes

    Listening, Encounter and the Assembly of the Living Portfolio. The origins of SoilScapes and the project's evolution. 

  2. II

    SoilWaves Live

    Live Listening Station at Bass Lake

  3. III

    Listening Room

    A sound gallery of field recordings.

  4. IV

    Research Journal

    Dated observations, sketches, photographs, videos and field notes.

  5. V

    Reflections

    Short reflections

  6. VI

    Weather Archive

    A daily ledger of air, rain, wind and wildfire smoke over the beds at Bass Lake.

  7. VII

    Ground Profile

    The soil itself, horizons, live temperature and moisture by depth, and the Canadian survey record.

  8. VIII

    Bibliography & Final Contents

    Works cited and consulted and a closing inventory of the portfolio.

  9. IX

    Seed Bank

    Projects in waiting: works held in dormancy between sketch and season.